Court told alleged gang leader danced while woman was raped

A woman has told a jury how she became pregnant after being raped at the age of 15 by an alleged sex ring that preyed on vulnerable schoolgirls.

Five men are accused of being part of a gang which abused young girls from the Lincolnshire, Rutland and Peterborough area.

The prosecution claims eight young white girls between 13 and 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were groomed via Facebook before being plied with alcohol and raped.

They were said to be victims of a gang men controlled by alleged ringleader Yasir Ali, 28, who used the nicknames Mr Nice and Sketcher Pidox.

Ali is now on trial at Cambridge Crown Court with alleged gang members Daaim Ashraf, 19, Akash Yashin, 18, Mohammed Aslam, 24, and James Daly, 25.

Yesterday (Wednesday) one of their alleged victims told how she was aged 15 when Ali groomed her after they were introduced by one of her young friends in 2008 and persuaded her to meet him.

The woman, now aged 21, said Ali took Aslam and Daly to pick her and a friend up and drove them to a car park.

There Ali got out of his car with Aslam - nicknamed Freddy - and the other girl and moved the seat forward to give Daly room with her in the back.

She told the court Daly then raped her as Ali breakdanced and showed off to his friend and the second girl who were all laughing.

The woman said shortly afterwards she discovered she was pregnant and was unsure who the father was and she later miscarried the child.

Speaking via video link, she said: “They all got out the car. James asked if I wanted to have sex and I said no. He said why not and I said ‘because I’m going out with Pidox’.

“He kept saying ‘Pidox doesn’t like you.’

“I kept saying stop and trying to kick him away. I tried to kick my legs into his chest and he said ‘it will be OK.’

“He was holding my wrist above my head and I tried to slap him away. When I got out Pidox was not even bothered when I told him what James did to me. I said James had sex with me and I didn’t want it.

“He wasn’t bothered. He just carried on breakdancing.”

She said Ali then took her phone from her and threatened to tell her mum if she said anything.

He dropped her and her friend off half way home and she told her friend what had happened. She said she went to a walk in health centre when she realised she was pregnant, and asked a nurse there not to tell her mum what had happened.

The woman then described another occasion when Ali was violent to her.

She said he pulled her to the floor, and called her names.

She said: “I was on the floor on the side. I tried to get up and he booted me. He got in his car and he was gone. It was so quick.

“Freddy told him to leave me alone, he said ‘she’s just a little girl.’

“They were talking in their own language, Asian.”

The victim added: “I believe what’s happening but I don’t believe it. I think they should rot in hell. Pidox should, for what he’s done.”

She also told the jury that Ali was “always driving little girls in his car.”

Supermarket worker Ali, of Grange Road, is charged with six counts of rape, two counts of making indecent photographs of a child, one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and one count of intimidation.

Ashraf, of Almoners Lane, who is a student, is charged with one count of sexual assault, three counts of rape, one count of sexual activity with a child, one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and one count of intimidation.

Ashraf and Ali are also jointly charged with seven counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation relating to six of the girls and Yashin is jointly charged for two of those offences.

Yashin, of Gladstone Street, who is a student, is also charged with one count of sexual assault.

Aslam, of Grange Road, who is unemployed, is charged with one count of rape and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and unemployed Daly, of Grange Road, is charged with one count of rape in 2008.